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Real Estate Lawyer, Chief Mrs. LIZZY NWAGBARA
Chief (Mrs.) Lizzy, is a renowned real estate player. She is also a Barrister, a solicitor, and she also holds the title ‘Iyani Wura of Egbaland’, but this wonderful woman has carved a niche for herself in property business. She started real estate business during her days as a youth corper. And since then, she has not looked back. This gorgeous-looking woman got a Special Recognition Award at the 2017 City People Real Estate Award and this year she has won the best Lawyer in real estate business.
She has also done well in the legal profession. She was called to the Nigerian Bar in March 1988 and has since been in active law practice, spanning virtually all spheres of legal practice including mergers and acquisitions, commercial, trade negotiations laws and secretaries. Her practice also covers litigation, commercial practice, banking and finance, real estate etc.
This amiable woman is known everywhere, especially in the real estate business. She started so young and now she has become a reference point. Who is Chief Lizzy and how did she become so big? These are some of the questions you will find answers to in this rare interview she granted City People’s Senior Property Reporter, ISAAC ABIMBADE, a few weeks back.
How does your law background help your real estate business?
It helps in numerous areas. You know as a Lawyer, you are automatically involved in real estate because it’s the lawyer that drafts the agreement. It’s the job of a lawyer to write agreement between the client and the property owner. Every transaction has its own pattern. You can say because I’m an Estate Surveyor, I can draft agreements. When the problems come he will learn. I have seen something like that before. Because one of my clients wanted to buy their property but when we saw the agreement that was drafted, it was all full of wrong terminologies and the right ones were not there. Because every transactions has its own pattern because the history is different from one to the other. You can’t do any real estate transactions without getting lawyers involved.
Lawyers also handle fall out that comes out of it. Because there are always fall out. There are litigations at times. So because you are now grounded as a lawyer in the history of a transaction you should be ready to appear and testify when called upon..
Lagos State in recent times has been termed as the most unsafe place to buy land in Nigeria. What can an average person do not to fall victim of Omoonile and the likes?
If you go through the history of those who are purchaser or seller of those land, they did not have a lawyer but it is in issues like this that a good lawyer should find out at the commencement of the transaction if its a safe land to buy. I had been a victim too at the beginning of my legal practice in the early 90s. I was part of those who bought some land around Ajah then from Omoonile and that time there was no apparent interest from government but the truth is that, we didn’t really check. We believed because we were dealing with the family that owns the land and there was no government interest them. But it was in Alausa we found out that the government interest was there although they didn’t map out what they wanted to do with the place. The idea of the government coming there to pull down your property, omoonile issues etc were the things you could find out if you carry out a proper investigation.
And it’s all problems that emanate from real estate that can lead to such a situation. Some areas are amenable. If you see an area where the government has not released, you can conveniently buy. There are some areas too that’s ratifiable. In such areas, you do a ratification notice. You will process it at the office of the Surveyor General. Then you will now pay for a government survey. It is called regularisation. The government will now give you a C of O.
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